Seth MacFarlane leads The Orville to space in trailer for new Fox TV series

You need only to take a look at the variety of projects which Seth MacFarlane has produced over the years to deduce that he's a big Star Trek fan. Frequent references to the series, as well as appearances by many Star Trek actors, are sprinkled throughout Family Guy, American Dad and several others, so it was probably only a matter of time before MacFarlane produced his own Star Trek-inspired TV series. That time is now and the result is The Orville, an hour-long sci-fi/comedy series which stars Seth MacFarlane, Adrianne Palicki and Scott Grimes. Fox unveiled the first trailer for The Orville at their upfront presentation today and you can check it out for yourself below!

Well, I didn't hate it, but it also has "cancelled after ten episodes" written all over it. I can't imagine that the series is overly cheap to produce, especially with Jon Favreau directing the pilot, and if it's not a big hit right off the bat, Fox may not be willing to keep it going despite their long history with MacFarlane. It looks as though it could have potential though, so count me in for an episode or two. The Orville is set four-hundred years in the future and follows the crew of the U.S.S. Orville, a mid-level exploratory vessel commanded by Ed Mercer (Seth MacFarlane). After his ex-wife, Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki), is assigned as his First Officer, Ed and Kelly must put the past behind them and, with the help of the crew, navigate fascinating and sometimes dangerous adventures in outer space, as well as the tumultuous and captivating day-to-day personal relationships with their colleagues.

The other members of the Orville crew include Gordon Malloy (Scott Grimes), Ed's best friend who has problems with authority, but is the best helmsman in the fleet; Dr. Claire Finn (Penny Johnson), one of the Union’s most accomplished physicians; Bortus (Peter Macon), an alien from a single-sex species; John Lamarr (J. Lee), the ship's navigator whose casual humor cuts through even the most dire situations; Alara Kitan (Halston Sage), a young, inexperienced security officer whose home planet’s high gravity gives her superior physical strength; Isaac (Mark Jackson), an artificial life-form from a machine society that thinks biological life-forms are inferior; and Yaphit (Norm MacDonald), a gelatinous creature. The Orville doesn't have an official release date yet, but is expected to debut this fall.